Finding Grants

Seeking a grant can be an arduous and time-consuming task. Two young Chicago women have now simplified the process by establishing Funding Sources Clearinghouse Inc. (FSC), the nation's first computerized data service that attempts to match the grant seeker with the grant maker.

"People who are looking for money have certain needs, and people who are giving away money have certain criteria," says 25-year-old Mary Beth Shea, assistant director and co-founder of the FSC. "The problem is that there are so many grant programs covering all kinds of fields." The Clearinghouse claims to keep track of some 50,000 public and private grant programs in the U.S.

Founded in 1971 by Miss Shea and Mary Emmons, 29, the Clearinghouse is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that limits its services to other nonprofit organizations and institutions. Its membership, now at 300, includes colleges, hospitals, private schools, settlement houses and environmental groups.

The Clearinghouse does not serve individuals seeking scholarships or other funds for their personal use, but it will help them to find financial support for projects that benefit others.

A fee of $250 entitles each client to a complete report on every potential funding prospect in the FSC data bank, as well as biographical profiles of foundation officers. Members also receive a monthly news digest--Grants Daily Monitor--providing information on new grant programs.

FSC collects information on private foundations from the Internal Revenue Service. (Foundations are required under a 1969 tax reform law to make public all financial data.) It costs the Clearinghouse $2,200 a year to get the IRS data.

The idea of establishing the Clearinghouse came when Miss Shea, who was working on an independent adult-education project, and Mrs. Emmons, who was scheduling courses for Head Start teachers, found that they were both looking for the same kind of funding. "We reviewed a lot of information sources," Mrs. Emmons recalls. "Ninety-nine percent of what we discovered was not appropriate to our problems, but would benefit someone else."

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